Washington, DC, May 2, 2007 — Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney PC announced today that former U.S. Congressman Bill Thomas (R-CA) will serve the firm's Federal Government Relations Section as a senior advisor. Thomas' track record as a congressman includes 24 years on the Ways and Means Committee — the oldest and most powerful committee in Congress — where he served first as chair of the Health Subcommittee and then as chair of the full committee for the last six years. He retired from Congress at the end of last term.

In addition to Thomas, Alex M. Brill will serve as an economic policy advisor to the firm. Brill worked with Thomas for five years at the Ways and Means Committee and was the senior advisor to the chairman & chief economist for the Committee. As senior advisor, he was Thomas' top policy and political advisor and oversaw the legislative work for a 40-person staff. In 2006, he also served as the top Ways and Means staff negotiator for the Pension Protection Act, Tax Relief and Health Care Act and Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act.

Ron Platt, head of the firm's Federal Government Relations Section, called continuing to have a strong bi-partisan practice at the firm an ongoing goal at Buchanan.

"It's critical to be a bi-partisan shop in order to successfully serve clients. Bringing on Bill and Alex, and their experience from years of getting things done in Congress, will be a tremendous advantage to our clients as well as our own government relations team," he said.

At Buchanan, Thomas and Brill will provide strategic direction, advocate policy reform and offer legislative solutions to clients.

"One of the things we want to do is anticipate what may occur down the road that could affect our clients," explained Thomas. "If we know where our clients are trying to go and what they are hoping to accomplish, we can offer legislative or policy solutions to help them get there."

Thomas was behind virtually every major piece of health care legislation of the past decade, and his reputation and accomplishments in the area of tax and trade policy is equally impressive. Legislation under his leadership as chair of the Committee on Ways and Means provided:

• $2 trillion in tax relief to the U.S. public through major tax relief packages. Thomas also led efforts to reduce tax burden on small businesses, manufacturers and other job creators. Major bills enacted include the Jobs & Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003, and the Economic Growth & Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2001.
• The President of the United States with negotiating power to open new markets to U.S. exports and create more American jobs. Major bills enacted include the Trade Act of 2002, seven free trade agreements and the African Growth and Opportunity Acceleration Act.
• Sweeping reform and expansion of retirement opportunities. Thomas chaired the conference committee for the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003, which created the Medicare prescription drug benefit and made critical reforms to help ensure that Medicare is available in the future. He was involved with the creation of Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), and, most recently, the enactment of the Pension Protection Act of 2006.

Buchanan's Federal Government Relations Section was recently ranked 16th (based on revenue) among law firms in the 2007 Influence/Legal Times' survey of law and lobbying firms.

About Bill Thomas

A member of the U.S. House of Representatives for the past 28 years, Bill Thomas has spent his career strengthening health care legislation, reducing tax burdens, advocating free and open trade and protecting workers' pensions. As former chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, Thomas was responsible for major Medicare legislation, $2 trillion in tax relief and the recently approved Pension Protection Act.

With regard to health care, Thomas chaired the conference committee for the Medicare Modernization Act in 2003, which created the Medicare prescription drug benefit and made critical reforms to help ensure that Medicare is available in the future. 

In 2005, Thomas led the effort to further reform Medicare by ensuring the program pays appropriately for a number of health care services, including home health services, hospital care, durable medical equipment, imaging services and Medicare Advantage plans. He also led the drive to help Americans with their health care costs through Health Savings Accounts (HSAs), which were enacted in 2003 and expanded in 2006.

During his six years as chairman, Thomas helped the President of the United States attain trade promotion authority and guided seven free trade agreements through Congress. He also created an energy tax package aimed at strengthening America's existing energy infrastructure while promoting alternative energy sources.

Thomas is also a visiting fellow at the American Enterprise Institute (AEI).

About Alex Brill

As economic policy advisor in Buchanan Ingersoll & Rooney's Federal Government Relations Section, Brill provides clients with economic and legislative insight into matters pertaining to tax, trade, budget, health policy, retirement policy, insurance markets, labor market changes, financial markets and policies affecting capital investment.

Brill joins Buchanan after having served as senior advisor to former Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Bill Thomas until January 2007. In this role, he served as Congressman Thomas' top policy and political advisor. Brill also served as chief economist for the Committee. He managed micro and macro economic analyses of major legislative proposals, oversaw the chairman's efforts to reform the revenue estimating process, and monitored labor markets, trade flows, business investment, small business growth and energy markets.

In 2006, Brill served as top committee staff negotiator for the Tax Relief and Health Care Act, Pension Protection Act and Tax Increase Prevention and Reconciliation Act. The pension bill is the most significant rewrite of pension legislation in over 30 years and the $70 billion Reconciliation Act extended the capital gains and dividend rate cut through 2010 along with ensuring 15 million taxpayers would avoid being pushed onto the alternative minimum tax (AMT). 

Prior to this role, Brill served as a staff economist at the White House Council of Economic Advisers (CEA), where he was on a team that provided advice and analyses to the president regarding national and international economic policies and appraisals of the economy. He also briefed CEA members and participated in various interagency working groups to develop Administration policy proposals, and contributed to the 2002 Economic Report of the President.

Brill is also a research fellow at the public policy think tank, American Enterprise Institute. At AEI, he worked on tax and budget policy and general economic issues, including research on policy options for the tax code post-2010 and select issues in reducing the uncertainty in forecasting long-term projected health care cost.